The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: Chris_ on January 20, 2011, 02:18:47 AM
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Saturday I will be sparring in my first Karate tournament. There are four or five different schools showing up. I'll be fighting in the Black Belt Over 36 yr old division, also known as the "Executive Division" or the "Over the Hill Division."
I've been in Karate for 6 years, during that time I've sparred once a week, mostly Black and Brown belts, but, tournament sparring is WAY different from the way we spar. We go hard, there are no targets off limits, no holds or tactics off limits either. Tournament sparring, is LIGHT contact only, for points, (we don't spar for points) and hitting the head hard enough to jar it. So, I'm a tad nervous, never having competed in ANYTHING before and never having so much as watched a karate tournament, aside from the Karate Kid movies...
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Good luck, Don! I'll be pulling for you.
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Thanks, I have a feeling I'm going to need it
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Big Don, you will do fine. Just remember to duck. :-)
And remind me to never piss you off either.
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Big Don, you will do fine. Just remember to duck. :-)
And remind me to never piss you off either.
^ :hi5:
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Do your best, Don, but recognize from the git-go that you are playing a different game and for the first time, so don't feel bad about not mopping the floor with the guys who are familiar with the style. It's much more important both for your own rep and your further competitive development that you follow the tournament rules and don't accidentally hurt someone through excessive force, than that you actually win a bout.
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The guy that is running the tournament got on the local (fresno) morning show to promote it and mentioned that 3 Kenpo schools are participating, then he named each school, then he mentioned three Kenpo schools again, and again one more time.
Yeah, he didn't mention my school, the 5 judges and 20+ competitors we are bringing. What a douchebag
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OK, that was definitely new and different. We left the house about 8am. There was a Black Belt meeting, apparently for other people to ask the same 4 stupid questions in 40 different ways. Then they began kid's katas. That took FOREVER. Then Adult Katas, then Black Belt Katas, then Weapons forms, then Team forms, then they started sparring with the youngest first. My son finally sparred about 5:30, he did very well, won fourth in his division. I finally sparred about 6:45. My division was Black Belt Men, 36 and older. So, it could have gone 1 of 2 ways: Either there would be a few guys like me, who started Karate relatively late in life, or, there could be ME, who started late, and a half dozen guys that practice for and compete in tournaments all the time, and have been doing it for 15+ years.
So, I lost my match. No big deal. While I would have liked to win, when I saw the competition, I didn't really expect to. Overall it was a neat experience.
Here is the video of my first tournament match. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoLAouv0XDA) I'm the big white guy.
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Its hard to tell who you were fighting? Your opponent or the ref?
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Its hard to tell who you were fighting? Your opponent or the ref?
Apparently, when he said stop, several times, I didn't. I couldn't hear with the stupid headgear on.